Advisory Resources

Advisories hold great potential for realizing many school objectives and being part of the school improvement effort of Small Schools and Small Learning Communities.
William Glasser (1986) estimates that schools fail to engage more than half the students because they fail to fulfill four basic human needs for students: to belong
and love, to gain power, to be free, and to have fun. Along with Poetry Slams in link #7, advisories can meet student needs for fun and add the element of play to learning through such means as Tug o' War, Basketball, Kickball, Dodgeball, Paper Airplane Contests,Talent Shows, Karaoke, Fashion Shows, Door Decorating Contests, Card Game Tournaments (e.g. Speed or Yu-Gi-Oh), Sustained Silent Reading, Scavenger Hunts for Teacher Facts, Back-To-School Night Bar-B-Qs, Recognition Assemblies, Birthday Cards for students--the list could go on, only limited by imagination and willingness.

Link Crew -- Link Crew is a high school transition program that welcomes freshmen and makes them feel comfortable throughout the first year of their high school experience. Built on the belief that students can help students succeed, Link Crew trains members of the junior and senior class to be Link Leaders. As positive role models, Link Leaders are motivators, leaders and teachers who guide the freshmen to discover what it takes to be successful during the transition to high school.

Advisory programs (homeroom) -- Advisory programs deliberately establish a connection between teacher and students. This connection can be in the form of academic advisement and coaching, student-led conferences and portfolio development, character and study skills development, discussion of current events, and packaged advisory program curricula.